Ebook: Peirce: a guide for the perplexed

1. Life and work : The birth of a polymath ; An outsider ; The Peirce papers ; Classifying the sciences -- 2. Mathematics and philosophy : Kant's conception of mathematics ; The exact study of ideal states of things ; Mathematical reasoning ; Mathematics, philosophy, and logic -- 3. Phenomenology and the categories : Phenomenology ; Derivation of the categories -- 4. The normative science of logic : Grounding logic in ethics and esthetics ; Instinct versus reason ; The elementary modes of reasoning ; Deduction and induction ; Abduction ; The logic of relatives ; The geometry of thoughts: existential graphs -- 5. Semeiotics, or the doctrine of signs : Two schools of semeiotics ; Peirce's definition of the sign ; The interpretant ; The object ; Three questions ; A classification of signs -- 6. Philosophy of science : The sole purpose of inquiry is to fix belief ; Four ways of fixing belief ; The demarcation of science -- 7. Pragmatism : "How to make our ideas clear" ; Proving pragmatism ; Some applications of the pragmatic maxim -- 8. Truth and reality : Getting clear on truth and reality ; Truth as the end of inquiry ; Nominalism, realism, idealism -- 9. Mind, God, and cosmos : A critique of determinism ; Three modes of evolution ; The origin and nature of natural laws ; Mind, self, and person ; The development of concrete reasonableness ; God, science, and religion.;"Charles Sanders Peirce, the founder of pragmatism, is a hugely important and influential thinker in the history of American philosophy. His philosophical interests were broad and he made significant contributions in several different areas of thought. Moreover, his contributions are intimately connected and his philosophy designed to form a coherent and systematic whole. Peirce: A Guide for the Perplexed is a clear and thorough account of Peirce's life and thought, his major works and ideas, providing an ideal guide to this important and complex thinker. The book introduces all the key concepts and themes in Peirce's thought, exploring his contributions to logic, pragmatism, truth, semiotics and metaphysics and demonstrating how his ideas developed into a coherent system of thought. Geared towards the specific requirements of students who need to reach a sound understanding of Peirce's ideas, the book serves as a clear and concise introduction to his philosophy. This is the idea companion to study of this most influential and challenging of thinkers"--